Interfaculty Heritage Studies Research Group Seminar
‘Heritage and Human Rights: Changing Perspectives’
7 July 2011
Library Presentation Room, Ground Floor of Library, Milton Keynes campus
10.00-15.30
Coffee/tea will be available at the start, and at lunchtime. Participants are asked to bring their own
lunches, please.
10-10.10 – Introductions and welcome
10.10-10.35 – Rodney Harrison. ‘World heritage, universal values and the politics of representation:
an alternative view’
10.35-11.00 – Louise Cooke. ‘Emerging debates: Human rights and earthen architectural heritage’
11.00-11.25 – Lotte Hughes. ‘The implications of Kenya’s new constitution for cultural
heritage-related claims, and increased tensions between human and cultural rights’
11.25-11.50 – Graham Harvey. ‘Respecting indigenous animate object-persons’
11.50-12.15 – Monica Grady (or Diane Johnson). ‘Meteorites in Cultural Heritage’
12.15-12.30 – Questions
12.30-13.15 – Lunch (please bring your own)
13.15-15.30 – Discussion, led by Paul Tremlett, and further questions
Abstracts received:
Louise Cooke
This paper explores the ‘development’ dilemma posed by contemporary heritage theory, identifying
a number of emerging themes in relation to the study and conservation of earth structures and
human rights. Building materials have and evoke different values, earthen building materials being
associated with a number of positive and negative values. I argue that through the critical reexamination of the values of earth building materials we can address certain ‘anti-development’
accusations, demonstrating that such materials are fit for purpose, modern and more suited to the
changing climates that will be encountered in the 21st Century. This approach recognizes human
rights to develop, adapt and change.
Monica Grady/Diane Johnson
Meteorites are valuable records of solar system history – made of iron or stone, they formed from
material that was part of a cloud of gas and dust which collapsed to produce the sun, the planets and
their satellites, asteroids and comets. The events recorded in meteorites stretch back some 4567
million years. The largest meteorite to have been preserved as a single object is the Hoba iron
meteorite (an estimated 80 tonnes); it remains where it fell, near Grootfontein in Namibia, and is
preserved as a national monument. Iron meteorites are the biggest and heaviest examples of
extraterrestrial material that fall to earth, and have a long history of conversion into artefacts, either
ceremonial objects or tools. Some of the earliest records of the preservation of worked iron
meteorites come from the description of artefacts found in ancient Chinese and Egyptian graves. In
many cases, the metal was hammered to produce blades for axes, daggers and swords, presumably
to assist progression into the afterlife. Jewellery from iron meteorites has also been preserved as
beads, strung onto necklaces. The reason for the use of meteoritic iron in Egypt and China has been
debated: some of the artefacts date from before metal products were worked from terrestrial iron ore
deposits, leading to the inference that iron meteorites were used because they were a handy source
of iron. By contrast, some ancient manuscripts ascribe heavenly powers to meteorites (or
thunderbolts); it was believed that items made from the metal would also have these powers. One
well-documented use of iron meteorites as a primary source of metal for tools is the working of the
Cape York iron meteorite into knife blades by the Inuit of Greenland.
Rodney Harrison
Most commentators within the field of heritage studies have been critical of the idea that universal
rights and interests in relation to heritage should supersede local ones. In this paper I argue that it is
the very fact that the World Heritage Convention expressed itself as representing a 'universal' set of
values which has meant it has had to take seriously the indigenous and minority critique of the list
as unrepresentative. This critique has had an enormous influence on the way in which heritage is
understood and managed in the early twenty-first century, not the least in terms of the broadening of
heritage to include intangible values.
Graham Harvey
Within the permeable boundaries indicated by the "new animism" (scholarly engagement with
relational ontologies and epistemologies), this presentation concerns the display and presentation of
animate object-persons (e.g. deity statues and ancestor-houses) of Polynesian origin. Contrasts
between displays in at least three museum and heritage centre venues (the British Museum; Te Puia,
Rotorua; and the Bishop Museum, Honolulu) and indigenous involvement with such displays will
form the basis of these preliminary thoughts.
Lotte Hughes
Kenya’s new constitution, passed in a public referendum in August 2010, enshrines for the first
time a wide variety of rights relating to culture, heritage, indigenous and minority issues. While
positive in some respects, since cultural heritage can be a tool for achieving social cohesion and
development, there are fears (first expressed during the constitutional review process) that Kenyan
citizens could claim rights on the basis of ‘traditional culture’ that clash with the human rights of
certain vulnerable groups, such as women and children. This paper, based on a proposal for future
research, examines some of the key areas of concern.